Yasin Gungor
09 June 2026•Update: 09 June 2026
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that Washington is compelled to respond to an alleged Iranian attack that brought down a US military helicopter.
“I have just been informed by our great military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
He said both pilots were rescued and are uninjured, but “the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”
CENTCOM confirmed that two crew members were recovered after the crash Monday, though the cause remains under investigation.
Two US officials, speaking to CNN, said that the helicopter was brought down off the coast of Oman by an Iranian drone. A source told CNN that an Iranian Shahed drone struck the aircraft, though officials noted it remains unclear whether the drone intentionally targeted the Apache or if the collision was inadvertent.
Iran has not accepted responsibility for bringing down the military helicopter. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that foreign military forces operating near Iran "face risks" and called on them to leave the region.
The incident followed several days of fluctuating tensions in the region, during which Israel and Iran traded military strikes before pulling back, underscoring the fragility of a ceasefire.
Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for US Central Command, said that an unmanned surface vessel located the pilots after they spent two hours in the water and transported them to shore.
Trump privately told aides that he would consider ending the ceasefire with Iran if Tehran kills American soldiers, according to a Wall Street Journal report last week, citing US officials.
The US military has deployed Apaches, along with armed MQ-9 Reaper drones and F/A-18 and F-35 strike aircraft, in an aggressive Central Command campaign to counter Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz to most commercial shipping.
Since the war began Feb. 28, Iran has downed about 30 Reaper drones, and several US fighter jets have been lost to hostile and friendly fire. The helicopter, however, became the first Apache lost in the war.
